This document is the executive summary of a study exploring the costs and consequences of technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) in intimate partner violence (IPV).
This study, undertaken with Dr. Mark Cohen, the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), and IPSOS, the Justice Information Resource Network, assessed the costs and consequences associated with three types of technology-facilitated abuse within the context of IPV: cyberstalking, image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), and doxing. The study assesses the costs and consequences associated with three types of TFA: cyberstalking, image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), and doxing. The study also estimated the prevalence of these crimes in a nationally representative survey, as well as measured the public’s willingness-to-pay to reduce these crimes. Technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) involves tools such as texting, mobile applications, smart devices, telecommunications networks, and social networks to bully, harass, stalk, or intimidate another person. In many cases, the perpetrator is someone the victim knows, often in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV). Perpetrators exploit the reach, connectivity, and anonymity of information technology services to commit a wide range of cybercrimes targeting specific individuals that can violate the victim’s privacy rights, sense of well-being, and have a lasting, damaging impact on their lives. Victims of cybercrimes may also suffer financial harm – such as lost earnings, purchasing new software or hardware to prevent further harm, or expenditures on mental and/or physical health care. Little is known about the extent of these financial harms.